Duke sinks in the polls to #18, sixth among the ACC ranked teams, following (AP) --
9. UNC
10. FSU (#12 in Coaches')
12. Louisville (#11 in Coaches')
15. Notre Dame
16. Virginia
Villanova #1 in AP and Kansas #1 in Coaches' poll. Duke is #11 in KenPom.
Sage Grouse
---------------------------------------
'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
I think that's a fair read of where we are right now.
Lots of upside to climb. But first, gotta make sure we stop digging the hole.
And if Duke earns a 4, I wouldn't mind seeing Gonzaga on the 1. They are a very good team, as any 1 seed will be. But we will be MUCH more battle tested, and that could pay dividends in March.
Duke has earned a ranking of 18, for now. But lots of important hoops left to be played. Keep getting better and shore up our weaknesses. Our goal should be to just dominate people by March, or if we fall short of that - at least win.
First things first. Beat Miami. Larranaga loves beating Duke even more than most. His teams have been immensely prepared to beat us at home or on the road, and after he does, he often will stand on the court basking in the moment. Rest assured he would love nothing more than for Miami to kick us again while we are down. We better be ready for a war this weekend.
We owe that dude some payback this year, and there has never been a better time to come together and dish it out. We can beat Miami this year if we prepare and play our best.
There's only one team I'd rather beat than Miami...
We're actually ranked about right. We have regressed in team play since the first of the season when the Tatum, Giles, Bolden and Grayson were injured. The difference was Amile was playing great and so was Kennard. We're going to need Amile back close to 100%, Tatum playing to his potential and Giles playing like we thought he would. I believe it will happen. GoDuke!
Hopefully, Amile will be helping out from under the basket and not the bench.
Not even remotely concerned about rank...
Would be happier to see Defensive improvement than a attain rank on smoke and mirrors.
If we can fix the D, the rest will take care of itself.
Exactly right. The defense is the big problem. Our opponents score at will inside. Fix that, we are fine. And we will fix it, if I know K.
Any guard, playing against us, who can throw the ball close to the basket will be rewarded with an assist by his forward who has been lounging, alone,near the basket.
Certainly didn't expect to see the Duke women ranked higher than the men any time this season.
Duke moves up to 17 in this week's poll.
6 ACC schools in the top 20, 2 in top 10.
FSU coming in at #6 (highest ever for FSU?) and UNC at #9
http://collegebasketball.ap.org/poll...ege-basketball
One of the few times I haven't been concerned with a Duke ranking. I think deep down everyone knows that if this team keeps getting better with every game, that they will be one of if not the best team in the country. Also rivalry week is coming soon and there will be a lot of changes coming. There is also the benefit of the young guys playing with a chip on their shoulder, and not playing scared because of what is expected
Sports-reference.com has highest-ranking-by-season in their summary page for each team; FSU was #2 to begin the 1972-73 season, and stayed there for a couple of weeks.
Duke jumps to No. 12 in today's (Feb. 13) AP poll ... still No. 14 in the Coaches poll:
The ACC still with six schools in the AP poll:
Louisville No. 8
UNC No. 10
Duke No. 12
Virginia No. 14
FSU No. 17
Notre Dame No. 25